B: TAS: Riley Rides Again PART 2
by Tharpdevenport
Summary: Previously: Batman is missing, a nuclear device is threatening Gotham City, a foe has returned, a hero is born, and an explosion has occured at Wayne Manor ... lives will change and someone will die.
1. Chapter 1

  
**WHACK!** The door to Gordon's office bursts open and he comes out quickly.  
"There's been an explosion at Wayne Manor; Bullock! Get a couple of men together!"  
"Wha?" Bullock says stunned; doughnut crumbs all over his mouth.  
"Now!"  
...  
...  
"Ump, ump, ump," Robin pushes down on Alfred's chest. "Don't give up, Alfred."  
Riley wipes away the black suet from Alfred's face, then checks his pulse on his neck, "He's definitely still here."  
Robin blows air into his lungs and keeps repeating.  
"Please -- don't go."  
"_EhhhHUH_, _ehhhHUH_, _ehhhHUH!_" Alfred starts coughing; Riley helps him up.  
"I got you; it'll be okay. Riley, go to that room over there and call the fire department; tell them everything is fine and not to come."  
"Sure," he dashes off.  
"Mater Dick, I-" he coughs heavily.  
"Here," Robin takes off his breathing mask and puts it over Alfred's nose & mouth, "what happened?"  
"I was ... getting ready to leave the house and find you."  
"Why?"  
"Master Bruce called; he's in trouble."  
"What did he say?"  
"The line went dead; I'm terribly sorry."  
"Listen: no more of this apologizing stuff for things out of your control. Call me Dick, heck -- even Richard. You're not just a man of servitude, you're a man of our hearts and we love you."  
Tears stream down Alfred's face.  
"How did you know it was a bomb?"  
"I didn't. When I put it down I saw the feather duster and realized I had left it on the couch. I walked around and accidentally knocked it to the floor; when I knelt down to retrieve it, the bomb blew the couch on me."  
Robin chuckles, "Even cleaning in an emergency."  
"A tidy house is a proper one."  
"All done; they were pretty persistent about coming here anyway, but I managed to talk them out of it. I'll go find a fire extinguisher," says Riley.  
Alfred' speaks, "Thankfully Master Bruce had the foresight to use fire-retardant materials. Oh, we got to help him."  
"We will. _I_ will."  
Police sirens sound in the distance.  
"Sorry, someone must have called the police," says Riley.  
"Watch him!" Robin commands and gets up and runs off.  
Dan lowers down and holds the breathing mask on Alfred's face, "Hey there. I'm Dan Riley. I'm trying to find your friend Bruce too."  
In a weak voice Alfred utters, "Thank you," and he coughs.  
"You're welcome. Just concentrate on breathing so you can clear up those lungs faster."  
An old car pulls to the front fast. Riley watches and sees Robin gets out and run up.  
"Take this home, but be back here tomorrow at noon. I got to change and be here when the police show."  
"Got'cha. I hope you feel better, Mr. Alfred."  
Alfred nods his head and Riley dashes off.  
...  
Riley pulls up to a small rental house. Salvo comes out quickly.  
"Riley! Thank goodness. You know it's nearly two in the morning?!"  
"I've had quite a night, Sal."  
"I'll say," looks at the car, "looks like you've been working at the Five Finger Discount store."  
"Nah, that ... well, I can't tell you everything, but what I can -- you're _not_ going to believe. And Robin has asked me for help."  
"The boy wonder?"  
Riley shakes his head _yes_.  
"If you told me pigs were flying and giving discount rates to monkeys, I just might believe you."  
...  
...  
Batman lifts his head up when he hears the locks and bolts on the door being undone.  
"Breakfast time, Batman," says Daggett.  
A henchman comes in with a plate of food and a glass of water. He brings it to Batman's lips and he drinks.  
"Eat up; I don't want you to perish out of starvation before the bomb goes off."  
"Listen here, Daggett: Red Claw is a vicious mercenary and even an ex-assassin-for-hire; you don't make deals with people like that. Maybe not now, maybe not a week from now, but when you've outlived your usefulness, she'll betray you. And her fury is deadly."  
"Oh, come now, Dark Knight; you think I'm that stupid?"  
"Anyone who deals with terrorists and nuclear weapons for gain is a fool, Daggett."  
"Perhaps so, but even a good person can step on a rusty nail and recover; I'm not going to be stepping on nails ever again after this, and of course she'll attempt to nullify me, but I thought ahead. Take for example Rupert Thorne; even as we speak he's transferring his money to me and then I'll share that with Red Claw. Like I said -- I've thought ahead."  
...  
"Boss, you okay?" says a buck-toothed lackey.  
Thorne comes walking in all ruffed up and hair messy, "Of course I am, boys. This isn't the first time your boss had gotten his feathers ruffled."  
"How'd you get away from those guys?" says another lackey.  
"I gave them all my money."  
"You're money? You don't mean all of it?"  
"I mean precisely that."  
"But ... boss!"  
Relax you pinheads; you'll still get paid. Luckily I thought ahead," he picks up the phone, "yes, operator, get me the main office of Julius Baer, Switzerland. All right," he waits on hold, "yes, Ueli, I want you to transfer all my money into another secret account and make it look like this one's still full. Yeah, I'm all right -- they just crinkled my suit a bit."  
...  
...  
Morning dawns upon Gotham City. Dan is awakened by some rattling. He opens his eyes and lifts himself up a bit from bed.  
"Laura? What are you doing?"  
"Trying to find the car keys. Boss says if I'm late again ... don't bother coming back."  
"Oh, I left them in my pocket last night."  
Takes the keys, "Speaking of last night, I went to bed at midnight and you still weren't there. What happened?"  
"Oh, I made a new friend."  
"Good guy?" she says as she ponytails her hair and puts a ha on it.  
"I think so," replies Dan.  
"Always were a good judge of character. Well, I got to go -- oh! Don't' forget to drop Roland off at his friend's house today. They invited him bowling this afternoon. Love you," she gives hi ma kiss on the mouth.  
"As well you."  
He gets up and stretches; he puts his arms out and arches his back, getting almost on his tip toes. He unbuttons his pants and heads to the bathroom, glancing at the alarm clock. A few seconds after entering he pops his head out and looks at it again, "9:15? I guess heroes don't have time for bathroom breaks and eating."  
...  
Dan flips some bacon & eggs over in a frying pan as his son comes wondering in.  
"Oh, I see how it is -- I ask you to get up three times and you ignore me, but the smell of cocked food gets you right up."  
"I just needed the proper incentive."  
"_'proper incentive"_? At least those comic books are expanding your vocabulary."  
"So, did you find him?"  
"No, but I ran into Robin."  
"Awesome! What happened?"  
Smiles, "Superheroes aren't supposed to divulge all their secrets, remember?"  
"Awww..."  
"But I will need your help after breakfast for a _special_ project."  
...  
Robin's face is illuminated by the Batcave computer.  
"Processing. Details found."  
"Display address for the phone number," asks Robin.  
"16366 Waterloo Circle; Gotham outskirts."  
"Got you."  
...  
Light fills the dark basement of Dan's home. He and his son walk down the steps. The room was gray bricked and had some stacked boxes. A work table with tools and protective wear was stationed against a wall to their right.  
"What's this _'special project'_?"  
"Don't tell your mother, but I'm gonna rescue Bruce Wayne."  
"This is beyond awesome, dad. You're a superhero! My own dad!"  
"Shhh ... don't' let the neighbors hear. I'm not a superhero, I'm just a guy doing the right thing. If I don't come home," he puts his hands on his son's shoulders after kneeling down and looking at him, "I want you to remember that. And that I love you."  
"Dad, no hero dies on his first mission."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. It makes a lousy comic book."  
"Where'd you learn all that sarcasm?" laughing.  
"Sal."  
"Ah huh. What I need your help with is a costume. I need your advice on what to wear. Where do I start?"  
"Well, first off: no bright colors that make you a target."  
"Superman wears blue and red."  
"But he's bullet proof and can shoot lasers out of his eyes."  
"Well ... I'm still working on that part," Dan smirks.  
"Those dark jogging pants and your old work shirt should do it."  
"Cool. What else?"  
"Nothing bulky of confined, and no flammable liquids. Those old brown boots over there are also good; they button instead of loose laces which can lead to the shoes falling off mid run. And you'll need gloves."  
"I got those heat resistant ones from the steam pipe factory job still."  
"You got to cover your face so no one knows who you are; possibly disguise your voice a little."  
Dan rubs his chin while thinking and looks at the work table, "Hey, I got it -- the welding mask. Cut a mouth hole in it and cement glue the hood of that jacket I was going to toss ... that should do it. That's head-to-toe. Am I forgetting anything?"  
...  
...  
Alfred lie propped up in bed by pillows; he sips a cup of tea while resting there. Dick places a tray of food on a table next to him.  
"Really, Master Dick, all this isn't necessary; it was only an explosion -- not like I was injured or anything."  
"Yeah, getting blown-up is so passé these days. Listen, I've called Maggie and she's agreed to come watch you for a bit while I'm out."  
"I'd have rather had the explosion."  
"I know you like her."  
"Bring me back a Bruce Wayne."  
"You can count on it."  
Beep! A car horn sounds.  
"But she'll smother me."  
"And you'll enjoy every second of it.," Robin jogs out into the upstairs hall, then runs down the stairs. He ducts through the plastic barriers where the front door used to be and sees the car he let Dan drive home.  
Riley steps out; he stands tall in the noon, costume on, head piece in his left hand as he rests it on the opened door's top, "Like it? Short notice, but I did my best. No cape though. My son had one, but it had the Superman logo on the back; I figured, don't tread on the original thing."  
"It'll do. Are you ready?"  
"Is one ever ready to go from blue collar worker to crime fighter?"  
"I know I've thrown you into the race midway, but I need help. I haven't told you this, but we're racing to beat a nuclear bomb from leveling this city. I don't know who we're up against; Joker, Two-Face -- maybe someone worse. I can't guarantee we'll succeed. One of us might now even make it back."  
"If we die, at least we do it trying. I'm not gonna plug my ears and wait for death to take my family. Ignoring it won't make the problem go away. I don't remember the exact words, but I once read that all Evil needs to triumph is for Good people to do nothing; and I'll be damned if I sit on my ass and watch Evil score a goal in my town."  
"Partners?" Robin extends his gloved hand.  
Riley's heart beats excitedly as he looks down at Robin's right hand; he grasps it firmly and with meaning, "Partners. I've got your back." 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2** _(second to last chapter)_

The door opens to the room where Batman is held captive.  
"Red Claw; there's still time to change course -- you're not mid stream. What you've done now is only life in federal prison, but genocide is your death nail."  
"Spare me your trite semantics of dissuasion," she says. She pulls out a long knife and walks around Bruce slowly, caressing it across his back, then stopping before him, "your butler is dead."  
Bruce closes his eyes and hangs his head down; tears form and flow out from under his mask.  
"The bomb, the planning, the material; those were all Daggett's doing. My primary concern is wealth and ultimately my life, but Daggett's is greed and revenge. He's upstairs now," she points up with the knife; gently she unclutches her fingers and the knife slips out and falls to the floor. She lowers her hand and looks dead at him, "How clumsy of me..." then comes about and exits the room with no further words, shutting the door silently.  
He shakes side-to-side until the legs of the chair lose contact with the ground, landing him horizontal on the floor. Pushing with his feet he slowly rotates around until his mouth is against the knife handle. He bites down and then spins until his head is facing a wall. He again shakes until on his face; then pushing forward with his feet, steadily makes his way to the wall. Carefully repositioning the knife in his mouth, he stops when its straight out like a sword swallower, reversed. He pushes himself to the wall and lifts his head as far up as he can, jamming the knife into the wall.  
Clenching the knife handle tightly with his teeth and simultaneously pushing up with both his feet and hands; his body shakes with the strain of lifting. In combination with edging closer with strong foot work, nudging up with his forehead, and using the knife to hold position, he finally works his way up after several minutes and pushes away from the wall delicately, and the chair falls back onto it's legs.  
He takes a few minutes of rest. After the lull he jumps the chair up & down, making his way to the wall. He positions the left side of the chair against the wall. He places his head just _so_ on it and looks straight down. Pushing away from the boundary that held him from freedom until a lock comes into view just below his head. Aiming the knife cautiously he loosens his teeth's grip and it drops into the keyhole; handle resting against the wall.

Red Claw opens the door to the security room, "Report."  
"The chopper is minutes away."  
"Excellent," she then looks at the monitor and sees Batman steadily freeing himself from the constraints, "tell Daggett's men to pack and that the chopper is coming."  
He picks up the walkie-talkie.

...  
"What is this place?" says Riley to Robin as they crawl on their bellies throw over-grown grass.  
"An old package distribution center during the war. Companies like Wayne Enterprises and Daggett Industries moved further into the city and this area just faded away."  
"Lot of people moving away from my neighborhood too," comments Riley.  
They reach near the end of the grass line.  
"We're here," he takes out a pair of binoculars and looks at all the windows and the roof for security guards, "I don't see any guards, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. Stay close -- we don't know what we're up against. Fight by my side, but not next to me."  
"Anything else?" asks Riley.  
"Yeah, if you find out who took Bruce, leave him; he's mind..." and stands up to walks forward.  
Riley raises his brow and makes a circle with his lips as he blows out after hearing Robin's tone, then gets up and joins him.  
Robin skips by the back door. He takes out a manual grappling hook; he swings it around until it blurs and thrusts the arm up, shooting the hook to the roof. The tri-hooked grappler hits the roof; Robin pulls as the rope and the hook scratches across the top and caches on some piping.  
Robin pulls the rope taut to make sure it's sturdy, then starts climbing up it. Riley grabs a hold of the tussling rope end and climbs up after him.

A door to a stairwell opens and Batman steps out. He goes from door-to-door, opening them gently and looking in. He opens one and jolts his head back out from view; Daggett's men pack some suit cases as he shuts it. He takes the stairwell to the next floor and tries the next door. His white eyes go evil as he sees Daggett -- back facing him, on a phone.  
"What do you _mean_ there's no money in that Swiss account?!"  
Batman enters silently, cape closed around him.

Robin looks in windows as he climbs up. "**Damnit**," he comments aloud after looking in one, "_climb faster!!_"  
As they race up, one of Daggett's men pulls out and loads a tommy gun, then races to the window.

Batman reaches behind his back, parting open the cape like an upside down "V"; he pulls out a grappling hook. He slides a switch over from "G" for Grappling, to "V" for Voltage. Gunfire echoes from upstairs. As Batman ducts out of habit and looks, Daggett makes an evil grin and pulls a gun from out his coat quickly, firing after twirling around.

Red Claw hears the commotion, "Get to the helicopter!" she shouts to the security man. The magazine locks into her weapon once shoved in and she leaves the room.

"This way!" Robin commands and they round a corner quickly to a stairwell.  
The two men comes out and aim their tommy guns. As they open fire Robin & Riley duct into a room as the dead end of a short hall.  
"Now what?" asks Riley.  
Robin removes some small black balls from his belt and quickly tosses them out; they smack the wall like a billiard ball and race into the hall. They roll up to Daggett's men and then the smoke jets out of each.  
"Sleeping gas," says Robin as he hands Riley a gas mask and puts one on himself.  
"Thanks," takes off his homemade cowl and puts the gas mask on.  
Robin checks quickly and sees thick smoke; he signals for Riley and they run out. The tommy guns start up again as the two go around another corner. Daggett's men step out from the smoke with gas masks on too.  
Red Claw emerges from the smoke, "You and your Batman are too late; the clock is ticking. No grand battle with the Joker, no mental retard in a costume; when you are wiped out, no one will even know why or by whom. Your pathetic attempt at heroism is all for not."  
"Red Claw. If you've hurt him..." his fists clench, his brow furls together and his face turns red, "you've not known wrath or vengeance; I'll rain down on you like Batman _never has!_"  
"Your threats are meaningless to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must ... blow town," she turns around and disappears into the fading smoke.  
"She'll have to take a chopper; we need to get to the roof. We need to find another stairwell. On the count of three, run," says Robin, "one ... two ... three!" Robin dashes out.  
In the spilt second Riley hears a gun cock and turns to see the security room man aiming at Robin's back.  
"Look out!!" he jumps out in front. **BANG!** The bullet hits him squarely in the chest.

**BAM! BAM! BAM!** Daggett fires again & again as he makes his way out of the room. Each time Batman makes his way further from Daggett. Daggett looks, then runs like hell from the room to the stairwell. Batman thrusts a bat-a-rang at him; it slices into the wall just as Daggett gets clear and up the stairs. He pursues.  
Daggett runs up the laws steps to the stairwell entrance being blocked by his men firing on Robin, "Keep firing! Batman is coming up; one of you fire through this door!" he shuts up and locks it with a key, then runs over to the continuing stairwell.  
As one of his men targets the door, it blows to pieces; three small black balls come rolling out and vent smoke. The henchmen waves his arm about in a futile attempt to clear the air. Batman darts out and the man fires. He ducts behind the wall with Robin.  
"Thank god; I thought you were-"  
"What took you so long?" asks Batman.  
"It's kind of hard to start from scratch."  
"I left you an encrypted note: get red stain out of big old suit," hands Robin a bolas.  
"Can't see to aim while they're firing. What does that mean?"  
"Just throw it; maybe we'll get lucky. Red stain, Red Claw; big old suit, Daggett."  
"Of course, I'm surprised it didn't come to me yesterday," Robin replies with sarcasm.  
"One ... two ... three!" shouts Batman.  
They toss their bolases; one misses and the other wraps around a guy's torso, ensnaring his arms; he falls over, taking the second guy with him.  
"Flashbang!" Batman warns Robin, then tosses one out.  
The flashbang bursts loudly & brightly, blinding and confusing Daggett's men.  
Batman and Robin runs out -- Batman ripping the gas masks off the men and dropping another sleeping gas ball.  
Robin speaks, "We need to get him help," points to Riley on his stomach, head turned away so Batman doesn't' recognize him. He doesn't move.  
"There's no time! They've already activated the nuclear bomb! Come on!" he takes of running up the next stairwell.  
Robin looks back, saddened, then follows.

Daggett smiles evilly as he rubs his hand on the ticking clock of the nuclear device. He walks up to the cockpit of the Chinook and places his suitcase on the passenger seat, then puts the headphones on. He stops when he feels the barrel of a gun poke into the back if his head.  
"Red Claw, I was just about-" saying as he turns around.  
"There's been a change of plans," she cocks he gun, "it's over, you fool."  
**WHO-flink!** A sharp, pointed Bat-star hits her hand, knocking the gun out and causing her to draw the hand toward herself and shake it in pain.  
"Batman..." she heads toward him.

Robin stops after exiting the door to the roof and briefly accesses the situation, then heads over. His attempt is halted when Red Claw's security man knocks him to the ground. The guy pounces down upon him and Robin kicks him away with a foot.

Batman and Red Claw circle each other; her limping, him in a defensive martial arts stance.  
"It's over, Red Claw!"  
"Are you daft? Look around you, Batman -- it is _I_ who have the upper hand!"  
"Even Rome fell, Red Claw."  
"Yes, but Rome did not have a nuclear weapon," she kicks and he avoid it.  
"Weapons don't cause cities to fall; that's an extension of people's stupidity. Something you're displaying rather well right now."  
"Arrr..." she growls, "even with a lane appendage I shall defeat you!" she twirls around in a round-house kick, which Batman catches.

The security room man throws a punch, Robin ducts. The man pulls out his gun quickly; Robin kicks his and the gun flies through the air, hitting the ground and discharging. The bullet strikes the hull of the Chinook.  
"Oh well. I'll get new bodyguards," and he flips switches and checks dials; the twin rotary blades starts spinning.  
The man rushes Robin and clashes. They struggle as he rams with all his might; Robin stumbles backwards.  
Robin's right foot hits the roof top ledge railing; he looks back, "Stop! You'll kill us both!"  
"Long live Red Claw!" and he shoves them both over.  
"**_No!!_**" Robin screams.

The Chinook blades oscillate violently, whipping Batman's cape around and bringing Red Claw's hair up like floating black snakes.  
"You're too late, you jet-setting git!" the chopper lifts off the ground, "no Robin, no Batgirl; I have won!"  
He turns to run for the chopper in a last-ditch effort and she kicks him in the back.  
He hits the roof top hard. He looks out and reaches with an extended hand watching as hope flutters away.  
Just then Riley comes running by. He jumps off the roof and catches onto the open bay door; the Chinook moves off into the sky.

Robin hangs from a grappling hook. He swings back & forth as he looks down and sees the broken dead body of the security room man a few stories down below.

Click. Batman rolls over to see Red Claw just out of range, aiming the gun Robin had minutes earlier sent flying off her assistant, "I'd like to say you were a worthy adversary, but at best you were a bad case of chicken pox. And now it's time for you to die, Dark Knight. Any last words?" she says in a snide demeanor.  
Breathing heavily and holding himself up, he utters, "Go fuck yourself."  
"What?!" her eyes grow intensely wild with anger and she tightens her stance and just as she pulls the trigger, **WHOO..thuuuick!** Her head goes spinning off onto the ground. Her body collapses; gun goes off.  
He looks over and sees Catwoman standing on the stairwell door top, whip snaking across the roof to her handle.  
"You never called."  
Batman smiles.

The Chinook glides to the right toward Gotham main, on a tilt. Riley holds hard but gravity forces his grip to loosen and he slides toward the tilt. At the last second he catches one of the hydraulic bars that open and close the bay door hatch. The Chinook rolls back parallel to the ground and Riley struggles with all his strength to pull himself up hand-by-hand, then using his feet to catch the door and stand.  
Daggett reads the Altimeter and sees Riley's reflection approaching from behind. He whips out his gun and fires, missing Riley. Riley hides behind the bomb and when he peaks out, another shot rings out.  
"_Are you insane?!_ Stop firing you idiot!"

"Shut up," Daggett pulls the trigger when Riley peaks out again; it just clicks, "blast it."  
Riley runs up and as doing so he pulls out a several foot long manual measuring tape and wraps it around Daggett's neck.  
Daggett stumbles with removal using his free hand and steers with the other; he says with complete disdain for Riley's existence, "You fool -- do you have any idea _who_ I am?!"  
"Would it hurt your feelings if I told you I didn't give a damn?"  
"Look at the clock."  
Riley looks over his shoulder and his jaw drops upon seeing it.  
Daggett speaks, "One minute, ten seconds. I hate to cut your first night of heroics short, but you're bumbled the day saving."  
"Tell me how to stop it!" he tightens the tape.  
Daggett laughs hard, "You might as well ask me the meaning of life; I'm not a nuclear physicist and disarmament sort of never came up. Either we dump it now and live, or we both die in an overly grandiose fashion."  
"My son reads comic books; lot of them, and you know what he told me? Your typical bad guy is just as afraid of dying as you, no matter how hard they play baddie. You sit there and you tell me you don't care, but I think you do. But you squandered that. Only one thing is going to happen now..." Riley holds the measuring tape firmly around Daggett's neck, then grabs him and tosses him to the floor.  
Daggett grows panicked when he sees twenty second left.  
"**_Pull straight up now and I'll give you everything I have!!_**"  
Riley folds his arms.  
"**_NO!!_**"  
**BEEEEEP!**. Pummm ... nothing happens.  
"What do you know? It went out with a whimper, like you," says Riley.  
Daggett faints.

...  
Robin pushes himself up onto the ledge of the roof. He sees Red Claw's head just a few feet from him and Catwoman cradling a bloodied and tired Batman.  
"You _killed_ her!"  
"_I_ killed her," says Catwoman.  
"It was her time," Batman comments.  
"What the hell does _that_ mean? Whatever happened to, _'Let it go, Robin -- the law will take care of it'_?"  
"Red Claw almost succeeded this time. If it had just been me, Gotham would be a radioactive wasteland. This isn't the first time Red Claw attempted to get dangerous weapons."  
"But it wasn't," says Robin.  
"We got lucky this time."  
"Maybe I should have just let her shoot him," says Catwoman, defending Batman.  
"she's got a point. And who was that who jumped into the Chinook?"  
"Oh, he's ... a friend trying to help us."  
"You brought a civilian into danger?"  
"Saved your life, didn't we?"  
"But almost cost millions at my expanse; you should have waited and searched the sky in the Batplane; Red Claw wasn't going to leave her ace-in-the-hole behind."  
"Well, sorry I gave a damn."  
"Not good enough. Mistakes like these will cost Gotham City dearly one day."  
Robin's face turns red and his fists tighten; gusts of wind from the landing Chinook blows his hair about wildly.  
Riley drags the still unconscious Daggett out of the Chinook by his feet.  
Taking his mask off and wiping the sweat from his brow, "I'm back and I got you all a present."  
Batman recognizes Dan Riley and smirks.  
"How'd you ... you were shot," Robin says trying to subdue the anger still in his tone.  
"Metal welding apron under my shirt; stopped the bullet. Left a hell of a bruise, though."  
"Let's go," Robin commands Riley.  
"Where's Bruce Wayne?"  
"Let's just go," he says more forcefully.  
"Oh..." and Riley follows.  
Robin ties a wire to a pipe and throws it over the building then descends; Riley follows.  
Catwoman kisses Batman on a cheek, "I've always wanted a rich boyfriend."  
"What about Catwoman?"  
"It's over. I put it on just to rescue you, but I just don't feel it anymore. This tabby is retiring."  
"Glad to know. Hey!" he says when she jabs him in the side, "what's that for?"  
"Playing me like that on our first date."  
"A little mystery is always good for a relationship. So I hear," says Batman.  
"Let's not play anymore," she snuggles up to him.  
The sun starts to set in the orange sky as he rests his head against hers and says quietly, "Tomorrow is a new day"


	3. Chapter 3

**FINALE**

"My god," Selena looks at the charred entrance to Wayne Manor, "I hope no one you knew was home."  
Bruce starts to cry as he pushes through the plastic barriers, "I'm gonna miss you, Alfred."  
"Sir?" Alfred pops up from behind a piece of furniture with a feather duster in hand.  
"Alfred!" he runs over and squeezes him tightly.  
"Master Bruce -- I was so worried."  
"Everything is all right now," Bruce puts his hands on Alfred's shoulders.  
"Miss Kyle, is it?" asks Alfred; Bruce removes his hands.  
"Yes, pleased to meet you ... ah..."  
"Alfred Pennyworth," shakes her hand.  
"Where's Dick?" asks Bruce.  
"That's an easy one," Selena jabs him in the side.  
"I need to talk to him."  
"He was upstairs an hour ago when I last saw him. Is everything all right?"  
"It's all fine. I just need to apologize and tell him the good news," he runs upstairs.  
"What good news?" asks Alfred.  
"We're engaged," she shows him the huge diamond on her ring finger, then follows up.  
"Oh my. Batboys and catgirls."

"Dick!" Bruce calls out in a friendly way as he jogs into his room, "let me tell you ... Dick?" he looks about the empty room; bed, shelves, floor -- all barren. He walks over and opens the walk-in closet; nothing.  
Selena puts a hand on his right shoulder, "Is there a problem?"  
"I guess not," he looks sadly into the emptied closet.

...  
A new day dawns over Gotham City.  
Bruce walks up the steps to Wayne Enterprises. Riley approaches him.  
"Bruce Wayne."  
"Riley! I see you got yourself a second job," he raises an eye brow.  
Riley laughs, "Let's just say life changes sometimes happen at the spur of the moment."  
"What brought about that moment?" asks Bruce.  
Shakes his head while laughing, then slaps his hands together, "I needed a job."  
"Come inside with me," Bruce places a hand on his shoulder as they enter Wayne Enterprises and pass the security guard desk.  
After passing the black & white television, the newscaster speaks, "Roland Daggett of the failed Daggett Industries is currently being held without bail by federal authorities and faces federal charges ranging for purchasing and transporting a nuclear device, which comes with a minimum of life in prison. We'll bring you more details as they become available. I'm Summer Gleeson."

...  
"Hey, Sal!" Dan shouts out as he runs into his house. His wife sits on the couch, dried mascera running down her face.  
"I sent him home."  
"Honey, what's wrong?"  
"They fired me. What are we going to do?" she weeps.  
"Oh, that's all? You can stay home and take care of Ron and I'll go break in my new job at Wayne Enterprises."  
"Really?!" she shouts with excitement and stands up.  
"Really..." the view switches to him taking off the final part of his costume earlier and placing it into a box, "we hit a bump in the road, but," he hesitates from dumping the box into the garbage can and instead hides it behind some boxes, "things will change."  
...

**-FIN-**


End file.
